Tagged: Internet

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is hooking up MSN.com with a hipper sidekick to broaden its appeal and stay on top of the Internet's hottest topics.

The trend-tracking service, called "msnNOW," tunes into the buzz by sifting through millions of Internet searches and links circulating among the hordes on Facebook and Twitter. The chatter is then distilled into the equivalent of a digital water cooler — a place where people can go to keep in touch without taking up a lot of their time.

By John Cook at Geekwire

Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh appeared today at the In NW social media conference in Seattle, offering an impassioned plea on the importance of protecting the Internet. Or, as the Internet entrepreneur dubs it: “The greatest thing that mankind has ever created.”

Secrets: the currency of spies around the world.

The rise of social media, hash-tags, forums, blogs and online news sites has revealed a new kind of secret — those hiding in plain sight. The CIA calls all this information "open source" material, and it's changing the way America's top spy agency does business.

Earlier today, the Justice Department announced it had charged seven people on counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy in what's being called one the biggest criminal copyright cases.

NPR's Carrie Johnson filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"The Justice Department accused Megaupload, a popular file sharing site, with helping millions of people gain access to pirated movies, music and TV programs, often before the items are released for sale.

Now that Wikipedia has said it's going to join other websites Wednesday and go black to protest anti-piracy bills being considered by the House and Senate, the backlash against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act has gotten a much higher profile.